Mounting COVID cases in Kerala, Delhi a huge worry for India

New Delhi: Rising daily cases in Kerala and Delhi (5, 891) remain a big concern as overall fresh cases of novel coronavirus continue to decline in India. On Friday, 48, 648 new cases were detected as the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country moved closer to 90 lakh. Out of this 73.73 lakh persons have already recovered while 5.94 lakh still remain infected and under treatment.

The total number of deaths so far due to COVID-19 has been 1.21 lakh with 563 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours. The union government is now gearing up for the nationwide vaccine drive, once the vaccine candidates get DCGA approval following successful trial results.

The Centre has asked states to constitute committees for coordination and overseeing COVID-19 vaccination drive while ensuring minimal disruptions in other routine healthcare services.

Stating that COVID-19 vaccine introduction will span over a year with multiple groups being included "sequentially starting from health care workers", the Health Ministry has sought constitution of committees at state and district levels which will review preparatory activities in terms of cold chain preparedness, operational planning, strategies for state-specific challenges in terms of geographical terrain and hard-to-reach areas, etc.

"The COVID-19 vaccine introduction will span over a year with multiple groups being included sequentially starting from HCWs. Therefore, it is important to create a strong advisory and coordination mechanism at state and district level to guide the process of COVID-19 vaccine introduction while ensuring minimal disruption of other routine health care services including immunisation," the letter by union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan issued on October 26 stated. Union Health Secretary has stressed that early tracking of social media is needed to dispel rumours which could impact the community acceptance of coronavirus inoculation.

As per government data, 57,386 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours compared to 48,648 new cases. The national Recovery Rate has now progressed to 91.15 per cent and 80 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs . Kerala has contributed the maximum with more than 8,000 to the single day recoveries followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka with more than 7,000 recoveries each.

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan tweeted saying, “Active caseload below 6 lakh for the first time after 85 days. Active caseload only 7.35% of Total Positive Cases.” Union health ministry officials said India has performed remarkably on fulfilling World Health Organisation’s advise of 140 tests per day per million population. The national average of tests per day per million population stands at 844 as 35 states and UTs have exceeded the advised number of tests.